Top 10 NBA Draft Busts of Past 15 Years

<h5>#10 Nikoloz Tskitishvili</h5>

Taken 5th overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 2002 NBA Draft, Denver had high hopes for this European prospect. Given the fact that Dirk Nowitzki and Peja Stojakovic were setting a new standard for European big men who could shoot the lights out, Tskitishvili seemed like a good option. With career averages of 2.9 points and 1.8 rebounds per game, anyone going to argue he was a huge bust?

Yeah Thabeet is worse than Kwame and Darko for sure. Those guys still get 20 minutes a game when healthy Thabeet gets. ZERO

William

CarMur, a few below nailed it… Hasheem Thabeet taken 2nd by the Grizzlies in the ’09 draft…
thabeet defines bust based on his salary vs output alone; not to mention the boy never showed improvement in any aspect of his game…ever… but wait, here’s where thabeet pick redefines bust… taken 3rd in 2009 draft… by the okc thunder, james harden…. the “beard” who came off the thunder bench in the just wrapped 2011 west.conf.semis, and simply smacked the grizz in the mouth, everydamntime the series tipped in memphis’ favor… if you think hardin doesn’t remember who passed on him in that draft, then explain why he was still shootin 3s, up 19, with 2 mins to play, against the grizz 3rd team…,geez even after a bust player is long gone, the ghosts of that draft will do more than haunt, they’ll kick your ass, and keep shooting 3’s over your dead body.

am i a grizz fan? absolutely
was i stunned by the thabeet pick? absolutely
had i ever heard of james hardin before this series? absolutely not
do i think james hardin is a schmuck? (this offseason) absolutely
if i was james hardin, would i have reveled in the same situation? hell yes, absolutely

(oh, if you do a top 25 all time bust list; don’t be afraid to come back to the grizz’s draft history, and look for the late ’90s draft pick and 50 million we burned on the 800lb corn-fed cowboy outta okstate, Bryant “Big Country” Reeves…

Being a T-wolves fan I cannot stand watching Darko play. He is so soft only if they could take the heart of JJ Barea and put it in Darko.

Genecolvins

What? No Sam Bowie?

Anklesnap

Bowie was drafted a lot longer than 15 years ago. But obviously he would be high up on an ‘all-time’ list of draft busts.

Goptican

How Thabeet isnt on this I dont know. He is the first, to 5 draft pick to play in the d-league

Jje9000

Hind sight is 20/20. Looking at the list of comparisons for most of these players there was probably 1 or maybe 2 per class that you could have said coming out might have been better, but otherwise its not a fair comparison. Many of these blossomed after or are only average players themselves now. Yes, better than who you compared them to, but not that great.

Just had to comment…..1984 (or somewhere around that year)….Sam Bowie #1 pick, Clyde “The Glide” Drexler was #2, and that new guy, Michael Jeffrey Jordan was #3. The Glide and Jordan kicked ass of course, but as for Bowie…..might as well have drafted David Bowie

Anklesnap

Definitely would qualify if it was an ‘all-time’ list. But this particular post was just busts from past 15 years. Or definitely would have had the Jordan draft.

Jim

A lot of the statement is incorrect.
In 1984, the first pick was Hakeem Olajuwon, the Second was Sam Bowie, and the third was Michael Jordan.